SerpApi.Org
After its massive opening weekend, The Odyssey has achieved a new record that surpasses a polarizing Star Wars film.
The Christopher Nolan-directed movie, which is based on Homer's epic poem, debuted at the top of the box office with a domestic gross of $124.5 million and a worldwide gross of $264.1 million. It had the biggest global debut for a Nolan film, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises' $249 million.
After being filmed with IMAX 70mm cameras, The Odyssey broke a new record at the British Film Institute's IMAX theater (the largest theatrical screen in the UK) with an opening weekend gross of £219,867 ($296,147 in U.S. dollars) on just one screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It's the biggest opening weekend ever at this location and the biggest for any IMAX theater in the UK.
In a statement, Madeleine Mullett, BFI IMAX's program manager, said that the "extraordinary demand for our IMAX 70mm presentation of The Odyssey, experienced as intended by the filmmakers, is ultimate proof of the appetite audiences have for cinema at its most authentic." She added that BFI IMAX is the only theater in the UK to house a "complete archive of Christopher Nolan's IMAX 70mm filmography."
“As the only cinema in the U.K. to hold a complete archive of Christopher Nolan’s IMAX 70mm filmography, now including The Odyssey, we are proud to be the home of Christopher Nolan on film. Across the BFI, our commitment to preserving and celebrating celluloid, alongside the filmmakers who continue to champion this format, speaks to the enduring power of storytelling and the unique communal experience of seeing film on film. The extraordinary demand for our IMAX 70mm presentation of The Odyssey, experienced as intended by the filmmakers, is ultimate proof of the appetite audiences have for cinema at its most authentic.”
Before The Odyssey, Star Wars: The Last Jedi had the BFI IMAX record with £216,454 earned on opening weekend in 2017. The Last Jedi moving to second place also bumps Oppenheimer (another Nolan-directed film) down to third place with £207,677.
The report notes that 173 screenings in IMAX 70mm were sold out at BFI IMAX during the first eight weeks of The Odyssey's release. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was directed by Rian Johnson and released in 2017 as the second of three sequel films in the George Lucas-created franchise.
After its predecessor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, earned a critic score of 93% and an audience score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Last Jedi proved to be far more divisive. While critics praised the film, giving it a Certified Fresh score of 91%, moviegoers weren't nearly as receptive, with a 41% audience score.
Nearly a decade later, The Odyssey has surpassed The Last Jedi at the BFI IMAX theater. The new fantasy epic boasts an all-star cast with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel and Elliot Page.
Along with being the No. 1 movie domestically and globally right now, The Odyssey is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and currently holds a 95% score with critics and 97% with audiences. Aside from directing, Nolan also wrote the screenplay, and the film marks his first big-screen project since 2023's Oppenheimer.
Aside from The Odyssey and Oppenheimer, Nolan has also helmed Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight trilogy.
